UFC welterweights Matt Brown and Thiago Alves have verbally agreed to fight on Aug. 17 at TD Gardens in Boston, according to MMAWeekly.com sources.

The event is slated to help Fox Sports 1 – Fox’s new national sports network – launch on the same day. The UFC will be part of the network’s cornerstone programming when it takes over the Speed Channel.

Less than two years ago, Brown (17-11) was on the verge of receiving a pink slip. Coming off of a loss to Seth Baczynski at UFC 139, he had lost four of five bouts. But his fortunes turned quickly after that fight.

Brown has since gone on to win five consecutive fights, including four in 2012.

He most recently finished highly touted Strikeforce transfer Jordan Mein, stopping him via TKO in the second round of their UFC on Fox 7 Fight of the Night performance.

Alves (19-9), however, is in a much different situation than Brown. He has lost four of his last six fights, but hasn’t fought for the past 14 months due to a series of injuries.

Alves had to have surgery for a torn pectoral muscle in early 2012. Before he could get back to the Octagon, however, his body required further repairs.

Finally! I’ve been dying to hear some news about Alves returning. This is a well deserved fight for Matt Brown. He’s been very impressive since defeating Mike Swick and Jordan Mein. I really want to see Alves back in the title picture, he’s still young and very talented. I’ve become a Matt Brown fan but I’ll never go against Alves.

http://www.mmamadman.com/ Chase Brian Beebe

you’ve been living under a rock. He said he was going to be out after his kampmann fight

Anthony Lopez

Are you always trying to talk s***?

http://www.mmamadman.com/ Chase Brian Beebe

no i don’t use profanity

El Gvapo

Alves seems to be the forgotten man of the welterweight division. I think this may be a step too far for Brown though, he’s a good fighter and fun to watch but when you compare him to the top 10 ranked fighters, I don’t see him winning many of those. But he’s proved me wrong before though.

Advance*

I don’t think it’s a step too far. Mein and Swick are both bigger wins than Abedi and John Howard (who Brown also beat). Those two are Alves’ only wins in over 3 years. Matt Brown has 9 UFC wins in that time. I’m not saying Brown’s a lock but he’s certainly at a better place in his career than Alves

El Gvapo

Absolutely, he’s certainly in a better place and I agree, his wins have been over higher calibre opponents than alves’ most recent. I just feel if you put brown against ellenberger, Rory, condit etc then I’d be surprised to see him win. But as I said, brown is always proving people wrong.

Lucas Freire

Well,higher calibre that Alves’s most recent maybe because he hasn’t fought for the last 14 months.

Looking at the numbers it may look like he’s already going downhill this 4 losses were to Kampmann(After dominating Kampmann for 3 rounds),Rick Story(former top10,lay’n pray strategy involved,Fitch(on the top of his game) and GSP.
He’s not someone to be underestimated,he’s big,fast,has KO power and if Brown stand and trade with him I really don’t see him on the winning side.
I came to like Brown a lot,seeing him as a kind of Cinderella Man,but Alves is title contention material while I think Brown still has to prove himself.

http://www.CombatScienceMMA.com/ CombatScienceMMA

He’s had a lot to deal with. Surgeries and injuries. This is going to be an exciting fight. If Brown wins it’s a very big win for him and I think he should get a guy like Robbie Lawler or Koscheck, somebody up there. If Alves wins I hope he wins by TKO/KO to make a nice comeback.

http://www.reverbnation.com/TheHiLL Burly Dent

war immortal one

Cereal Killer

I got Brown by KO.

Rence

This should be a fun fight. Thiago isnt in many boring fights, and i’ve been a fan of Browns since that vicious KO on TUF, IMO its only second to that spinning kick Hall landed this season for brutal KO kicks on TUF

Maybe thats what Brown’s corner guys should do. before every fight put lemon juice in his dip and tell him it was his opponent that did it lol

Milos Rackovic

Thiago Alves the man i tell u that. Go go

uncle

Alves is going to get wrecked by Brown

http://www.21centurysuccess.com/ Ryan Bruno

This is a great match up. Brown always brings the pressure and Alves is a great striker but has shown to buckle under constant pressure like in his fight against Story. Going to be Alves’s athletiscism vs Brown’s heart and with Alves going back from a long layoff going to be really interesting.

Tom Jolley

i was hoping for Alves vs Lawler but this is good too.

shakejunt

good stylistic match-up but makes zero sense as far as rankings go. 5 fight win streak vs coming off a loss? albeit a decent performance before a mental lapse

UFC Politics Suck

Trying to make sense of UFC matchups these days is akin to trying to figure the mentality of MMA Judges. So basically 1 + 1 = Juice